Scammers are trying to earn on interest surrounding the Pottermore website.

Through Pottermore, JK Rowling will release more stories and background from the world of Harry Potter.

Pottermore officially opens in October, and scammers are selling fake accounts for the site that claim to give fans early access.They are also using search engine poisoning to direct Potter fans to sites that are seeded with viruses and other malicious programs.Most of the scams based on early access to the Pottermore website.The public at large will be able to sign up in October but early, or beta, access is being granted to people before then if they are among the fastest to complete a magical quill challenge on the Pottermore site.

The challenge runs every day from 31 July to 6 August and about one million beta accounts will be given away.Scammers are now offering to register people for this challenge and are getting hold of their personal details as a result. Also some scammers are supposedly selling Pottermore accounts for about $100 (£60) via eBay.

While many of these are likely to be fake, some are being offered by fans who have set up more than one account for Pottermore.The administrators of the Pottermore website have noticed the trade in accounts and have issued a warning about the practice.

Scammers are also starting to poison search engine results associated with Pottermore to direct people to sites loaded with malicious programs.